Cowboys ‘just don’t know’ about Zack Martin, Tyron Smith’s status for Miami
No one in Cowboys Nation wants to repeat any aspect of Week 3’s disaster in the desert, when the lowly Arizona Cardinals led a decimated Dallas team from wire to wire and notched a stunning 28-16 win.
Yet just 48 hours before a monumental interconference matchup with the explosive Miami Dolphins, the Cowboys might be coming into Week 16 with one very troubling similarity.
Right guard Zack Martin and left tackle Tyron Smith are both nursing injuries that have the Cowboys talking contingency plans.
“I just don’t know,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said on Friday, “and we won’t know until it gets here. We’ve got a few days to go.”
Martin and Smith represent a combined 16 Pro Bowl appearances; their absences against one of the top defenses in the league would not bode well for the Cowboys coming out of Hard Rock Stadium with a win.
Too doom-and-gloom for you?
Consider that the last time both both were missing from the starting lineup was that ugly September outing in Glendale, and the opponent that day was a winless flock of Cardinals.
Martin left last week’s game versus Buffalo in the first quarter after taking a hard hit to his thigh. A quick check in the sideline medical tent revealed that his quad muscle “wasn’t firing,” and he sat out the rest of the contest.
The 10th-year veteran gave positive reports after the loss, telling reporters, “I feel good about” the prospect of being ready to go against Miami. He sat out the team’s practices on Wednesday and Thursday but remained optimistic on Friday.
“Just trying to do as much as you can, trying to get it just to get some of that soreness and tightness out, keep it firing, getting ready to play Sunday,” he said during his weekly radio call-in with GBag Nation.
Martin participated in Friday’s walkthrough, while Smith did not.
Smith’s appearance on the injury report was unexpected, showing up Wednesday with a back injury he suffered during the Buffalo game. He, like Martin, did not practice on either Wednesday or Thursday, but his prognosis sounded a little less encouraging.
Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy said on 105.3 The Fan, “I would say Zack’s ahead of Tyron right now.”
Jones concurred with that assessment a few hours later, allowing for the possibility that Smith, who just turned 33, will miss his fourth game of 2023.
“We’ve got a game plan that’s going to be there without him,” Jones told the K&C Masterpiece Show. “It won’t be as pleasing as one with him, but we’ll have a game plan.”
Smith has already missed 36 games since the start of the 2020 campaign due to injury.
T.J. Bass filled in for Martin in Week 3 and again on Sunday. Chuma Edoga figures to get the call should Smith be unable to play in Miami.
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Whoever suits up in South Florida in Week 16, the Cowboys will be looking for them to not only bounce back after a lackluster effort in Buffalo, but to take things up to a playoff-level intensity against a powerhouse Dolphins squad, with the real postseason looming for both clubs.
“You have to be ready to go,” Jones said. “You’ve got to have depth. You’ve got to have people step in. They’re never going to be the perfect pictured performance of a Smith or a Martin. They’re never going to be that, but they do surprise you.”
